


Left My Heart At The Disco

by fade_like_starlight



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Mild Language, Songfic, girls aloud - song, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-09
Updated: 2012-12-09
Packaged: 2017-11-20 16:46:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/587558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fade_like_starlight/pseuds/fade_like_starlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve's learning to socialize. Darcy's celebrating a new job. He should have gotten her number before he left to save the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Left My Heart At The Disco

**Author's Note:**

> notes: inspired by On The Metro, by Girls Aloud.

_I saw this guy come rockin' up_  
 _So shy and out of place_  
 _His moves were so ridiculous,_  
 _but he looked so meticulous_  
 _..._  
 _But I don't have your number,_  
 _only got your name_  
 _I left my heart at the disco_  
 _Now I'm crying on the metro_

  
 ‘This is getting painful,’ Natasha remarked as she stood by the boxing ring in the gym.

  ‘I know,’ Clint agreed. ‘My hands hurt just looking at him.’

  ‘I kind of meant the expression on his face,’ she said, rolling her eyes. ‘Idiot.’

  ‘You know I can hear you, right?’ Steve said from the other side of the ring, where he was currently whacking a punching bag into submission.

  ‘I know,’ Natasha said. ‘I am saying these things knowing very well you can hear me, and I am hoping you will take notice of what I am saying.’

  ‘What, exactly, are you saying?’ Steve said, steadying the bag.  

‘I’m saying you need to get out of the gym. Get out of this Tower. Do something other than hit things.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’ he asked, unwrapping his hands and grabbing a water bottle. ‘What do you suggest? Movie night?’  

She rolled her eyes again. ‘No. Come out with us. Tonight. We’ll go somewhere with real people and loud music and maybe we’ll find a way for you to stop looking like a lost puppy.’  

‘I don’t know,’ Steve said.  

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, go,’ Tony said, passing by the open door. ‘You’re annoying the hell out of me. Go get laid or something. You want me to make a call?’ he asked Natasha. ‘I can get you any VIP room you want.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Natasha said, and Clint continued ‘but we’ll be fine.’

  ‘That is so creepy,’ Tony said.  

‘You want to come, Stark?’ Clint said, following him out of the room.

  ‘Can’t,’ he said. ‘Got Thor’s scientist girlfriend starting next week. Gotta fix up a lab.’  

Natasha looked at Steve. ‘It’ll be fun,’ she said.  

‘Last time you said that, we nearly destroyed New York,’ Steve grumbled.  

‘And that was fun, wasn’t it?’ She smirked. ‘Downstairs. 8pm.’  

*** 

Darcy sat at the bar, twirling her straw happily. She was in New York, and she was celebrating, and she looked fantastic, if she did say so herself. She looked up, intending to get the bartender’s attention - but instead, her eyes widened as she took in the guy who’d just sat down next to her.  

‘Hell-oo,’ she breathed, and he turned to look at her.

  ‘Hello,’ he said back. _Fuck. Breathe_.   

She turned back to her drink, and out of the corner of her eye, saw the guy look across the bar, shrugging at a couple sitting in a booth. The woman had short red curls, and the - really, really buff - guy made a talk-y sign. Darcy sighed inwardly - if a guy who looked like that needed help picking up a girl, he probably wasn’t worth the effort, but she tried anyway.  

‘I’m Darcy,’ she said.

  ‘Oh,’ he said, surprised. ‘I’m Steve. Are you here by yourself?’

  ‘I’m celebrating,’ Darcy said, avoiding the question. ‘You?’

  ‘I’m here with friends,’ Steve said, gesturing to the couple, who were talking and pretending to ignore Steve. ‘They think I don’t socialize enough.’  

‘And do you?’ Darcy asked, curious.

  ‘Probably not,’ he admitted. ‘I - had a thing,’ he said vaguely.

  ‘Well, that explains a lot,’ Darcy teased. He smiled at her, and, _damn_. Darcy finished off her drink, because if she didn’t do something else with her mouth, she might’ve just kissed him then and there. She slammed her glass back down and pouted. Empty.

  ‘You gonna celebrate with me, Steve?’ Darcy asked him.

  ‘What are we celebrating?’  

‘My boss just got a new job,’ she said, gesturing at the bartender.

  ‘And you didn’t like him?’ Steve asked.  

‘I love her,’ Darcy said, sighing as the bartender turned to a hot blonde first. He did wave at her that she’d be next, at least. ‘She’s taking me with her,’ she explained to Steve. ‘I’ll get a real paycheck and a dental plan and we’ll have the chance to do some real research, with a real, grown up company behind us.’

  ‘That’s excellent,’ Steve said. ‘Research?’  

‘Science,’ Darcy said. ‘I don’t really understand it, but I am _boss_ at data entry. Aha!’ She grinned at the bartender. ‘Tom, meet Steve. We are all going to be very good friends tonight.’

  The bartender - Tom - grinned back. ‘Another one, Darcy?’

  ‘Please. And one for Steve here. Better make it a double, he’s a big boy.’

  ‘Yes he is,’ Tom said, winking.  

Darcy laughed and tipped her glass, clinking it with Steve’s.

‘You know him?’ Steve asked.

  ‘Oh yeah,’ Darcy said. ‘Old friends. We met, oh, about thirty minutes ago. First lesson in socializing, Steve, always make friends with the bartender.’

  Two hours later, Darcy had lost count of her drinks, but she was still steady on her feet, and that was pretty fucking impressive, considering she was dancing with - and okay, having a fantastic time with - a guy who could put Thor to shame for hotness. She shook out her hair as the music turned to a ballad, and Steve stepped back slightly.

  ‘I don’t really know how -’ he started to say, but Darcy was having none of that.

‘Like hell you don’t,’ she said. ‘It’s exactly what we were just doing, but slower.’

He’d told her earlier, at the bar, that he’d just finished up his military service, which hadn’t left him much time to dance. Darcy, who could see an opportunity from 50 paces, grabbed his hand and led him out to the floor. As she did, she saw his red-headed friend giving her a nod of approval, but everything after that had turned into a bit of a blur as they spun around the dance floor.

  She slipped her arms around his neck, and could feel him playing with the ends of her hair at her waist as he held her in tight. She closed her eyes and swayed along.

  ***  

Steve owed Natasha an apology. He really should know by now that she was always right. He ran his fingers though the ends of Darcy’s hair as she swayed up against him, and caught sight of Clint over her shoulder. He was miming - writing something down? Steve shook his head slightly. Whatever it was, it could wait. The song finished, and the next one - back to the faster beat - started up.

Darcy pulled back and looked up at him.  ‘I don’t really want to stop,’ she said, ‘but I need some alone time.’ She led him off the floor and positioned him back at the bar. ‘Wait right here,’ she said. ‘Lucky for you, I don’t need a posse to go to the ladies’ room. I will be right back,’ she swayed slightly as she turned.

  ‘I’ll get you some water,’ Steve said. ‘I think you’re going to need it.’

She poked her tongue out at him and left. He watched her for a couple of seconds, admiring the way her skirt fell around her legs.

  ‘I hope you already got her number, Cap,’ Natasha said beside him, ‘because we have to suit up.’  

‘What?’ he said sharply. ‘Now?’

  ‘Sorry, Cap,’ Clint said, cell phone attached to one ear. ‘Fury’s calling. We’ve gotta make tracks. Now.’  

Steve sighed and kicked his foot into the ground. _Damn it._

  ***

  Darcy came out of the ladies’, washed and freshly lipsticked up. Steve wasn’t where she’d left him, but he shouldn’t be hard to find, that height and that hair. And that ass. She spun in a slow circle, but he was nowhere to be found.

  ‘Fuck,’ she said. ‘Should have got his number first.’ It was going to be a long ride home, with the memory of his arms and an empty contacts list.  

The next week, Darcy arrived bright and early at Stark Tower. Jane’d had all the equipment shipped over to New York, but Darcy knew Jane’s filing system sucked, so she was assuming everything would need to be re-labelled. To her total non-surprise, Jane was already in the lab. Her companion, however, was completely unexpected.

  ‘You look familiar,’ Tony Stark said. ‘Have we met?’  

‘Unlikely,’ Darcy said. ‘I don’t exactly hang in the same circles as you.’

  ‘No, I’ve definitely seen you,’ he said. ‘You live in LA?’  

‘Connecticut,’ Darcy said. ‘Then New Mexico.’

  ‘Nope,’ Tony said. ‘Never been there. Never been there sober, at least.’ He shrugged. ‘It’ll come to me. So, Dr Foster, shall we plug in all this charmingly vintage tech of yours and see what needs upgrading?’

  ‘My tech does not need upgrading, Mr Stark,’ Jane said, a little too belligerently for her new boss, but Darcy doubted that Tony cared, seeing as his response was to laugh at her and brandish a screwdriver. Darcy left the science nerds to their toys and starting putting away Jane’s notes in the new filing cabinets.

  It wasn’t till her third day that Tony came in to the lab, grinning like someone had just told him he was a billionaire.

  ‘I’ve got it,’ he said smugly. ‘I know how I know you.’

  ‘So spill,’ Darcy said. She wasn’t really having a good morning, Jane’d mixed up three files worth of notes on the trip from New Mexico from New York, and Darcy was sorely out of practice in translating from geek to English.

  ‘Can’t tell. Have to show you,’ he said. ‘Jane, I’m stealing your lab monkey.’

  Jane just waved, which Darcy decided to take as ‘You may borrow my lab _assistant_.’

Darcy sighed, mostly just for show, and followed Tony out of the lab and into the elevator. He hit one of the upper levels - the ones Darcy didn’t have access to. (She’d tried - the elevator spoke to her and politely, Britishly, advised her those floors were residential.)  

He led her into a large gymnasium - there was just one man in the far corner, doing some serious damage to a punching bag.   

‘Bought you a present, Cap,’ Tony said, and Darcy was about to rip him a new one, she was nobody’s present, when the man turned, and -

  ‘Steve?’ she exclaimed.

  ‘Darcy?’ he asked back, dropping his boxing gloves and coming over. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I work here,’ she said. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I live here,’ he said, looking at Tony. ‘How do you know Darcy?’  

‘She’s Dr Foster’s assistant,’ Tony said, grinning.

  ‘But how did you know I knew Darcy?’ Steve continued, frowning slightly. ‘You weren’t there that night.’  

‘Please,’ Tony said, rolling his eyes. ‘You think I don’t look through your sketchbook when you fall asleep?’  

‘You’ve drawn me?’ Darcy asked, cutting in.  

‘Multiple times,’ Tony confirmed. ‘In a decidedly shorter skirt, I might add.’

  She gave him a glare of death, and was privately amused to see Steve do the same thing.

  ‘Fine, fine,’ Tony said, holding up his hands and backing away. ‘I know when I’m not wanted. I’ll just tell Dr Foster you’re taking the afternoon off, then, shall I?’  

‘Yes,’ Steve said, then picked up Darcy’s hand. ‘I am so sorry, I had a - work emergency,’ he finished weakly.  

Darcy narrowed her eyes. ‘Please,’ she said. ‘I’m not sixteen, I don’t need an excuse - wait,’ she paused, putting it together. ‘Oh, fuck, you’re Captain America.’  

‘Yeah,’ he said sheepishly. ‘I really did have an emergency.’

  ‘The robots?’ she asked. ‘I saw it on the news the next morning.’

  ‘Yeah. I wanted to call you, but, well, I should have got your number first.’  

‘You really should have,’ Darcy agreed. ‘Where’s your phone?’  

He pulled it out of his gym bag, and she took it, sliding it open. ‘Not even a password? Steve, Steve,’ she shook her head. ‘Anyone could take this and stick their number in it,’ she said as she typed. ‘There. Now you’ve got my number. Quick, put a password on it, so no other girls can put their numbers in there.’  

He took his phone and looked at it. ‘What year were you born?’

  ‘1988,’ she said. ‘You’re not going to get all weird about the fact I was born 60 years after you, are you?’

  ‘Nope,’ he said. ‘1-9-8-8. New password.’  

Darcy laughed. ‘So,’ she said. ‘There’s something else I should have done before I left you alone.’

  ‘Oh really?’

  ‘Yep.’ She stood up on her toes and kissed him.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> notes: so, I was listening to the new Girls Aloud best-of album, and I heard 'On The Metro', and I honestly just dropped everything and started writing. Literally. I was standing at my kitchen bench, still in my gym gear, wet dishes on the rack, typing away. and this happened. [You can listen to the song on my tumblr here](http://fade-like-starlight.tumblr.com/post/37473418594/girls-aloud-on-the-metro), although I really, really recommend getting the full album (the deluxe version, if you can find it.) Girls Aloud are possibly the best pop group ever. Even their stuff from 2005/6 still sounds fresh and exciting.


End file.
